


Hic Puer Est Nunc

by blackeyedqueen



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Red Robin (Comics), Under the Red Hood
Genre: Horror, Jaytim could be seen as platonic there's nothing explicit going on, M/M, Possessed Tim, Possession, horror movie cliches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-18
Updated: 2016-11-18
Packaged: 2018-08-31 16:34:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8585809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackeyedqueen/pseuds/blackeyedqueen
Summary: Tim's not acting normal. Jason seems to be the only one concerned.





	

Jason notices something’s really off with Tim lately. He’s distant. The bags under his eyes are constant, and surprisingly, more prominent than normal. He’s pale. And hes non-social and snappy. He’s been patrolling less often. These are not necessarily uncharacteristic for Tim. He’s often tired and it often shows, but something about this still seems wrong, almost sick. It really rubs Jason the wrong way.

“Well, you know Tim,” Dick says over the phone one evening. Because, yeah, Jason was kind of worried enough to see what Dick thinks about it. “He’s probably working himself too hard over some case or who knows what. He’s probably forgetting to take care of himself.”

This is plausible, but still doesn’t feel right.

“You know I wouldn’t call you if I thought that was the case,” Jason says back. He’s starting to think without Dick being here to see for himself, he’s not going to be much help.

“I know. You’re kind of the one acting weird here, in my opinion.” _Bite me_ , Jason thinks. “But look, just remind him to take care of himself. Tell him needs to eat and sleep and he’s not going to be able to help anyone, or whatever it is he’s working so hard to do, if he’s dead on his feet.”

Jason sighs into the phone, and it’s met with Dick’s parting. “Listen, Jaybird, I’m sorry I can’t help much but things have been hectic over here. Let me know how it goes, but I gotta get some sleep before I go out.”

“Yeah, yeah. Later, Dickhead.”

“Look, just… trust me, Jason. It’s probably just Tim being Tim. I’ll see you around.” And with that, he hangs up. 

* * *

When Jason sees Tim a few days later he still looks like shit. Actually, if it’s even possible, he looks _worse_. 

Tim hadn’t been on patrol that night, for the third night, so Jason feels compelled to make sure Tim hasn’t literally worked himself to death with… whatever else he could be doing. 

But when Jason lets himself into Tim’s apartment he’s surprised at what he sees. Tim’s not hunched over his laptop, he doesn’t have notes scattered all around him, he’s not surrounded by coffee or… anything. He’s just sitting on the couch in sweats staring at the TV. He doesn’t even acknowledge Jason came in.

“Hey, kid,” Jason calls out as he approaches him. He sits down on the coffee table, facing Tim, his eyebrow furrowing in confusion and a little worry. “Haven’t seen you out fighting crime lately. You know, that thing that you’ve been for the past, oh, I don’t know, three years.” 

Tim just looks at him. It’s kind of unsettling.

“Hello? Anybody home?”

And finally, something like recognition or awakening surfaces in Tim’s face. “What do you want, Jason?” His voice rasps, sounding like it wants to have some heat behind it, but the energy to do so couldn’t be mustered up. He just sounds so _tired_ , but in such a Not Tim way.

“I came to check on you, Little Bird. It’s kind of bad when the Red Hood is helping arrest more criminals than Red Robin. And yes, that means I’m not killing them. You, on the other hand, are nowhere to be found.” He searches Tim’s face for a reaction and gets nothing. “Come on, kid, what’s going on?”

“Since when do you care?” 

“Since we’ve worked together side-by-side how many times, saved each other’s asses how many times. And now you’re acting like a fuckin’ zombie. And I would know, since I technically am one,” Jason tries lighten the mood but it doesn’t do anything. Tim looks no more or less annoyed, still just tired and passive. Jason really doesn’t like this.

Tim finally moves, his body crumpling a bit as his shoulders hunch in and he rubs his face with his hands. He looks back at Jason, and his expression hasn’t changed much, but he sighs and says, “Look, it’s none of your business. I’m fine, just tired. I don’t need you to baby me.”

 _Baby him?_ What the fuck? 

“I’m not babying you. I’m fucking _worried_. I don’t know what’s up with you, but you look like shit, acting like shit, you’re not out trying to save people. As far as I can tell you’re not doing _anything_. Something’s up with you, and I want to help. What the hell is wrong?”

Tim’s eyes sharpen a bit. “I never asked you to worry,” he snaps. “I didn’t ask you to care, or come out here. Nothing’s wrong. I said I’m fine, and I don’t need you to sit here and call me a liar. Get out.”

 _Get out?_  Is this kid serious?

“I said, get the fuck _out_ , Jason. And don’t come back. I can handle this myself.”

“Obviously you fucking can’t! It wouldn’t surprise me if whatever’s going on fucking kills you, dipshit!”

“Get OUT!” Tim yells and it’s the most emotion Jason’s seen in Tim in a week. He’s leaned forward, pointing at his door, and his eyes look deadly. Jason decides _fuck this_ and shows himself to the out. If he stays any longer, the two of them will be at each other’s throats, and that would be counterproductive. So fuck it, let the kid kill himself, Jason tried and the thanks he got was getting fucking thrown out. He remembers why he usually doesn’t take to caring about other people. Because sometimes your best efforts aren’t good enough. Sometimes you have to watch the people you care about burn out.

* * *

Jason continues not seeing Tim. The worry continues to eat away at him. But then his mind replays Tim’s vehement denial for help, his voice yelling at Jason to leave, and Jason remembers that he said fuck that.

It’s hard to try to convince yourself you don’t care when you do.

It’s a slow night in Gotham when Tim calls. Middle of the night calls aren’t uncommon, but they’re usually done over a comm link and involve needing back up. Tim is still not on back patrol and is calling Jason’s cellphone at 2:08 AM. Given their last conversation, it’s a little unnerving. 

“Tim?”

And Jason can’t understand anything. Tim is talking too fast and breathing too hard. Something about… “Wrong”? Something’s wrong. What’s wrong?

“Whoa, whoa. Slow down, Timmy. Take some deep breaths and try again.”

This does little to help so he starts making his way towards Tim’s apartment. Tim is clearly saying “Please” “I don’t know” and “Wrong”, so Jason tears through the streets on his bike until he can make it to Tim’s place.

He lets himself in to find Tim pacing back and forth in his living room and hyperventilating, sucking in air like he forgot how to breathe. Jason takes off the hood, walks over to Tim and puts a hand on his shoulder, making the kid jump. What the hell?

“Hey, it’s okay, s’just me, what the fuck’s wrong?” The look on Tim’s face screams terror, a look that Jason isn’t used to seeing, one he doesn’t think he’s _ever_  seen, not on Tim’s face.

Tim grabs him by the wrist and leads him to the kitchen. The kitchen looks… bizarre, to say the least.

The chairs are stacked on the table. All of the cabinets and drawers are open. The silverware looks like it was just dumped on the floor. The fridge door is open and the milk poured out. There are knives stabbed into the counter.

Quite frankly Jason, doesn’t know what to make of this, but Tim is looking at him like he expects some kind of reaction. So he says to him, “Tim… What happened?”

Tim says, breathless, “ _I_ did this.” He gestures to the kitchen, looking. “I did _all_  of this. I… I thought I was dreaming. I couldn’t control any of it, I was just doing it. There were these whispers in my head and I was just doing the weirdest shit, and I just thought it was some crazy fucking dream and I would wake up in my bed. But then I stopped. And the whispering stopped. And I got the feeling back, that I could control myself again, and I just looked around and realized I wasn’t dreaming or even sleepwalking, I was just…. I was doing this and I couldn’t _stop…_  And the voices… Jason, something’s _wrong.”_ Tim looks at him, tears actually forming in his eyes. He’s fucking _terrified,_ Jason can see it, he can _feel_  it. He’s a little terrified, too. 

“Something’s wrong with my head,” Tim continues. “I’ve been hearing these fucking voices, even when I’m awake. And I’ve been seeing such weird shit. Shadows, faces, things moving, things that shouldn’t be there, that can’t really be there. It’s like a nightmare, but I’m awake. And the actual nightmares… I can’t sleep. I haven’t been sleeping. And I just thought I needed to get my shit together, you know? Suck it up, but I _can’t_ , I’ve tried… It’s just… These _dreams…_ I don’t know what to do… I need to go! I need to go. Will you come with me? To the hospital. I need to get checked out, Jason, something’s really really wrong, will you take me?” 

And Tim is freely crying now, grabbing onto Jason like it’s going to save him, pleading with him to help him. Jason wants to help him. He agrees that something is up with Tim’s head right now, but it’s sounding like it could be sleep deprivation related. He knows that not sleeping can lead to irritation and hallucinations. He’s not so sure about turning your kitchen into one of those cliche horror movie scenes where you look away and suddenly your furniture is rearranged, but Jason thinks that right now Tim just needs to fucking sleep and they’ll see what to do tomorrow.

“Okay, Tim, okay. We’re gonna figure it out, okay? Just calm down,” Jason soothes. He grabs Tim’s shoulders, rubbing with his thumbs. He can feel Tim shaking. “First things first, is that you need to sleep.” Tim starts shaking his head saying _I can’t, I can’t_ , and Jason talks over him, “ _Yes_ , you can. I’m gonna be right there with you. I’ll stay with you, alright? Sometimes people sleep better when they’re not alone. I’ll be right here and I’ll make sure everything’s alright.”

He steers Tim to the bedroom, convinces him to at least lay down with him. Jason strips off his armor, leaving on his under shirt and boxers to get under the covers, with Tim laying next to him, pressed into his arm, holding onto him like he might disappear. Jason wonders if Tim thinks he really might, like Jason is just one of his hallucinations made to fuck with him and he’s going to disappear or turn into something awful. So Jason holds him tight, as if to say _I’m really here and I’m staying_.

It takes a while, a lot of comforting touches, fingers in hair, overplayed Friends reruns, and reassurances that everything will be okay before Tim _finally_  falls asleep. Jason is too wired to fall asleep, so he just keeps rubbing Tim’s back and watching shitty late night TV. He _knew_  something was wrong with Tim. He just wished he could have been doing this for him sooner. A few hours later Jason thinks he might finally nod off. It’s that time of night just before the sun comes up where everything is dark and calm and quiet and you can just feel that you’re awake when no one else is. Jason closes his eyes and it feels good.

The bed shifts beside him, Tim’s warm weight disappearing from his side. He cracks his eyes open to see Tim just sitting up in bed. His legs are out straight and his back is straight, not hunched over like usual, and it’s just so painfully unnatural to see this kind of posture from him. He’s not doing anything. He’s just sitting up and facing forward, completely still. It barely looks like he’s breathing.

Jason slowly sits up and moves to face Tim. The kid’s eyes… His eyes are so _empty_. They look blank. They look _lifeless._  Jason is all too familiar with these dead eyes, has seen them in corpses so many times, that it’s entirely too unsettling to see Tim like this.

“Tim,” Jason says slowly, cautiously, placing a hand on Tim’s shoulder. “You alright, kid?”

The TV flickers as Tim slowly to Jason and then goes black.

Then Jason hears a voice, a low growling kind of voice, something he can only describe as demonic. It sounds evil. It makes Jason’s stomach drop and his heart pound. And it’s coming from Tim.

“ _Hic puer est nunc_ ”

The boy is not here now.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I went to see the Conjuring 2 and this happened. 
> 
> tumblr: @fakegenjimain. twitter: @marmorasblade


End file.
